Cartel Land Essay

We often hear stories about the Cartel and the drug wars and they aren’t the good stories we like to hear. It is a twisted situation, with the uprising conflicts between the Cartels and drug enforcement agents, between the corrupt and the corruptible, and those who have power and those who have no power. Then you have your hundred and thousands of citizens that work all day, who meets the violence from all possible sides. Cartel Land takes an in-depth look at the effects of vigilantism from both sides of the border.

Cartel Land is not one of the good vs. evil stories that we hear. The Mexican government and the local authority often seem to be apart or affiliated with the Cartel. Some of the people that are a part of the organizations that

are supposed to protect the citizens are, affiliated with the Cartel. The main Cartel that is being focused on in Cartel Land is the Knights Templar Cartel; based in the state of Michoacán. Enrique Solis, Servando Martinez and Dionisio Plancarte formed Knights Templar. The Knights Templar Cartel enforces its operations to “fight and die” for the Cartel. They now have taken full control of the now invalid La Familia Michoacana operations in the states of Michoacán, Guerro, the states of Mexico, and Morelos.
Cartel Land has two main parts or sides.

Throughout the documentary between Tim Foley and Jose Mireles. Heineman follows Tim Foley, a guard on the Arizona side of the Mexican Border. Tim comes from a broken background and is a former drug user, he now wages war against the Cartels. Tim blames the “illegals” for ruining is job opportunities and clearly shows strong emotions towards hunting and taking down drug smugglers also known as coyotes with his group. The Second part of the film Cartel Land focuses on Dr. Jose Mireles, a surgeon who lead the Michoacán resistance movement, the Autodefensas, against the Knights Templar Cartel. Jose Mireles is the founder and former leader of the paramilitary self-defense group the Autodefensas. The Autodefensas fights against the Knights Templar Cartel and other Cartels in the state of Michoacán and others, in Mexico. The Autodefensas is an organization that travels to different towns in Michoacán. They mainly focus on taking down the Cartel members in the city that they are in and making the town safe. The Autodefensas members are armed with heavy machinery and walk around the town strapped with guns, finding out leads and tips on where the Cartel members like Martinez, Solis and Plancarte are hiding so they can take them

down.
The Autodefensas primary goal is to protect their people and the towns of Michoacán, they will do whatever it takes and is necessary to achieve that goal, and that also includes taking the risks of being shot at. When the Autodefensas reaches a certain town to talk to the citizens of that town about why they are there. The reaction the citizens of that town is unexpected and shocking to the Autodefensas leader. The citizens of the town don’t want the Autodefensas there because they have heard bad things about the men that are a part of the Autodefensas. Their argument is solely because the Autodefensas is not a government organization, their town is peaceful and that they never asked for help. Another point the citizens made, is that the Autodefensas clean their guns in the streets and what if one of their kids got shot. Another thing they don’t want is the men to break into their houses or retaliations. The other towns have been talking about the Autodefensas breaking into their houses and trashing them. The biggest part of the argument is that they are not a part of the government and if they don’t believe in the government, and the safety that they can provide them, then they are finished as citizens. The reason they believe that they will be finished as citizens because, once they don’t believe that the government can keep them safe then they should give up.
The Autodefensas believes that they are protecting the citizens because the state of Michoacán is overwhelmed with crime resulting from the cartel. They want to protect the citizens because many lives have been taken and many families have been destroyed and distraught due to uprising crime. The Carte will not stop and will take out whoever is in the way of getting what they want. It doesn’t matter who you are if you are in the way of them making their money; you have become a problem in their eyes. Due to the Cartel being one of the largest crime organizations in the world, they can control a lot of what happens in Mexico and everywhere else that is affiliated with the Cartel. The uprising crime of the Cartel has become a problem not only for the citizens of Mexico, but to the other countries that are surrounding them. With the Cartel being one of the largest manufactures for drugs, the United States is one of their biggest incomes. With the way the Cartel is producing the drugs the war will never die.
The way Cartel Land gets you to believe what’s going on is by all the dramatic scenes. There are many scenes throughout the movie that adds a dramatic effect and uses the scenes to pull you into the reality of what’s going on. For example, of the dramatic scene in the movie that really got my attention, is when they were involved in a shootout as they were filming. The Autodefensas pulled the man out the car while his family was in there and handcuffed him. While this was taking place the man’s, daughter is screaming at the top of her lungs threatening to kill herself because she doesn’t want them to take her dad. That was the most dramatic scene throughout the whole film, and that scene also made me realize how fast a situation can change and take a turn for the worse.